Man, 20, charged with hatred in attack of 2 Sikh men in NYC

A man has been charged with a hate crime after two Sikh men assaultedrobbed and their turbines ripped apart in Queens, New York, this week.

Hezekiah Coleman, 20, was arrested at the scene of Tuesday’s attack as a person of interest before he was charged with two counts of robbery as a hate crime, robbery assault is a more serious hate crime and harassment, the New York City Police Department said.

The attack took place around 7 a.m. at 95th Avenue and Lefferts Avenue in the Richmond Hill section of Queens, the same intersection where Nirmal Singh, a 70-year-old man from India, was brutally beaten while walking last week.

Officials said police responded to a call to attack and found two Sikh men, aged 76 and 64, with minor head and body injuries.

The victims are believed to have been approached by two unidentified men and beaten “with a fist and a wooden stick”, police said.

The attackers then took off the victim’s religious hat and took money from them, according to police.

The victims were stable when taken to the hospital.

Coleman’s attorney could not be reached immediately for comment. Police are still looking for a second suspect.

Activists criticized the attacks at a rally held Wednesday in Queens with New York Governor Kathy Hochul to address the rise in hate crimes against the Asian-American community and Pacific Island in the Big Apple.

Sikh Americans Say They Have Faced “Invisible” Racism for several years. According to FBI data, there is a 68 percent increase in hate crimes against Sikhs between 2019 and 2020, most of them are committed by whites.

“Sikhs are no strangers to hating violence, but the recent string of repeated attacks in the same location is particularly disappointing and reprehensible,” said Nikki Singh, a policy manager and senior campaigner at the Sikh Union, said in a declare. “We continue to stand with all the communities who continue to experience this type of trauma. Targeted hate violence affects all of us – not just those who directly experience it. “

As for Nirmal Singh, the Sikh Union told NBC News that he returned home to India over the weekend to be with his family.

One of his sons, Manjit Singh, said in a statement: “Our family is deeply appreciative and grateful for the amount of support my father received following this horrific assault.”

“We hope that a suspect will be arrested as we consider this an attack on all those who wear turbines and other items of faith – and even though my father has left New York , we will do everything we can to continue to help the investigation,” he added.

The NYPD’s investigation into the Nirmal Singh assault will continue in his absence.

Sakshi Venkatraman contribute.

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here